Retirement

Understand how we manage your retirement.

We are aware that you may not want to retire at a specific date. This page will help you gain an understanding of how we manage your retirement to make it go as smoothly as possible.

Retirement age

The automatic retirement age at 65 was removed when the law changed in 2011. This means that when you reach or exceed normal pension age, there is no longer a reason for your employment to end.

This means that should you wish to stop working and leave the council regardless of your age, this will be your choice, and should be done following a conversation with your manager.

Pension age

The State Pension age is set by the government.

The Local Government Pension Scheme changed on 1 April 2014, so that the scheme’s normal pension age is in line with the state’s pension age. For further details you can see the Essex Pension Fund website for information and examples of how benefits are calculated.

Early retirement

Early retirement may apply when you retire early from the council, other than:

  • through a voluntary resignation from age 60
  • leaving on or after pensionable age
  • through redundancy

If you intend to start drawing your workplace pension, the earliest age you can retire is 55.

You should be aware that your pension income will be smaller than if you work up until your pensionable age and you won’t be able draw your state pension until that time.

Flexible retirement

If you are thinking of retiring, but are not sure about giving up work completely, you could consider a flexible retirement which may allow you to wind-down to full retirement.

A flexible retirement may mean that you reduce the number of hours that you work per week, possibly with a gradual reduction over a period of time, or move to a less senior role, or alter the work that you do in the lead up to final retirement.

Flexible retirement can help us by retaining your skills before you retire and provides you with a greater choice with what you want to do and accomplish as you look to retire.

Ill-health retirement

If you have been paying into a local government pension scheme for at least two years, and you are unable to continue working due to your health, you may be eligible for ill health retirement.

You case will be referred to an independent occupational health physician, who will provide assurance that you are no longer able to do your job or immediately undertake gainful employment.

You can ask a question about ill health retirement on the Assyst portal.

For more about information about retirement, take a look at our retirement policy (PDF, 302KB).

Process and guides 

Application form 

Templates 

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